How Mike Krzyzewski Helped Pitt Avoid Letdown

The Pitt Panthers leaned on a lesson from Jeff Capel's playing days to beat Georgia Tech.

PITTSBURGH -- Beating Duke is a big deal no matter the circumstance but a win over the Blue Devils can sometimes lead to a letdown in the following game. Not for the Pitt Panthers though, who followed up an 80-76 upset of Duke with a 72-64 win over Georgia Tech. 

There was not guarantee the Panthers would be able to follow up their best game of the season with a win - in fact, according to head coach Jeff Capel, the odds weren't in their favor at all. So Capel drew from his playing days at Duke under the legendary Mike Krzyzewski to inspire his team.  

"After the win against Duke, coach [Capel] told us Coach K had this thing — 95% of the teams who beat Duke end up losing the next game. He just told us ‘Don't be them.’ We went in with the mentality of not being them and being the 5% that wins the game after. That’s what we did.”

History backs up Kzryzewski and Capel's claims at least as it concerns Duke. Pitt's had not won the game immedietely following a win against thre Blue Devils since 1979 - coincidentally the last time the Panthers had won at Cameron Indoor Stadium. After quite litterally stealing a win over the Blue Devils in 1979, the Panthers turned around and beat Penn State four days later. 

Before last week, the Panthers had beaten Duke three times in the 44 years since that win in 1979 and each time, they had lost their next game. 

In 2007, after Levance Fields downed Duke with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at Madison Square Garden, Pitt lost 80-55 at Dayton the next time out. In 2016, a win Blue Devils at the Petersen Events Center that acted as the crown jewel of their NCAA Tournament resume, Pitt traveled to Cassell Colesium to play Virginia Tech and lost, 65-61. 

Early against Georgia Tech, the Panthers looked like a team that had expended all their energy knocking off the Blue Devils and understandably so. It was a physical, emotional game - a letdown was easily within the realm of possibilities, if not likely. History appeared bound to repeat itself. 

But thanks to contributions from players like Austin - who helped spark a 22-7 run by leaping to save an airball and assisting Ishmael Leggett on a critical, shotclock-beating bucket midway through the second half - the Panthers avoided joining the 95% that failed to follow up. 

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